CHOCOLATE MADELEINES

Since we now have a madeleines tray we have tried a few different recipes.
You need
- 3 eggs
- 125 g sugar
- 165 g plain flour
- 60 ml milk
- 220 g butter (200 for the madeleines themselves and 20 gr for brushing the tray)
- half a teaspoon of baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 18 small pieces of chocolate (more of less half a square - we did it with milk chocolate as it is my children's favourite, but this should taste better with bitter dark chocolate)

Preheat the one at 220 degrees.

Mix the sugar ad eggs and beat well. Add the milk. Mix separately the flour, salt and baking powder and fold it into the sugar and egg mixture. Melt the butter (200 g) and add it to the mixture as well. Put it in the fridge and wait for 30 minutes to an hour.

Melt the 20 g of butter and paint with it the madeleines tray. Put a little bit of the mixture in each madeleines mould until they are half-filled. Put the piece of chocolate in and cover it with the rest of the mixture (you may need to press the chocolate down a bit with your fingers so that it is covered by the mixture).

Put the tray in the oven and lower it to 180 degrees. Bake for 12 minutes and unmould immediately as soon as you take them out of the oven. Eat them warm.

The children liked trying different recipes, but all agreed that the classic lemon madeleines (see recipe that we published a couple of weeks ago) is best by far.

ONION SOUP

Another French classic that children love in the winter. You need:

- 500 gr onion (sliced thinly)
- a table spoon of olive oil
- 50 gr of butter
- a pinch of thyme leaves (we used dry thyme)
- a bay leaf
- a glass of white wine
- two teaspoons of sugar
- a tablespoon of flour
- bread (sourdough or baguette): one slice per person
- grated cheese (around 250 gr)
-water (around 750 ml)
-salt

Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onions over medium to high heat for 5 to 7 minutes. You really should use a frying pan for this, as if you try to do this in a soup pan the onions will not fry properly ( they will produce moist and therefore they will 'boil' instead of fry)The trick is to get the onions golden-brown (keep watching the onions while they fry as it is really easy to burn them). Then add  the sugar and flour and mix well. Add the white whine and wait for 2-3- minutes until it starts to evaporate. Transfer it all to a soup pan, cover with water, add the thyme, bay leaf and salt and let it all boil over low heat for 40 minutes.

Before serving the soup, toast the bread. Put the soup in the bowls, add the bread on top and then sprinkle generously with the grated cheese. Put the bowls under the grill  and wait until the cheese gets golden (3-4 minutes, depending on the strength of your grill) Serve immediately.

It is a bit difficult to get the children to help much on this as slicing onions is no fun (supermarkets now sell sliced onions  though). Also, be careful if they help you to put the bowls under the grill (in fact, put the bowls on a tray or you will burn yourself).